[jr2]

The wikipedia search box moving to the top of the page reminds me of microsoft changing the start menu picture in vista and people claimed they didn't know where the start menu was.

  Wow. Seriously?  Although I did have someone use System Restore cause they couldn't figure out how to get the Start Menu moved back from the top where they accidentally moved it. 

[Mongoose]

I rarely even use Wikipedia proper for searching purposes.  My Firefox search bar gets a frequent workout.

[m]

youtube: great, much prefer thumbs to stars
google: indifferent, I use bing more nowadays.
_{configured firefox to use it when i search in address bar even}

I prefer stars, because I'm less likely to thumbs up something I don't really really like... also seems too much like facebook for my tastes.
Have to concur on the google issue, I find bing more interesting.  Maybe I just don't like "minimalist."  Too Apple-y.

I could be crazy, but google's language tools seem to have improved about 200% (in accuracy).
I wrote a fairly simple message, translated it into French and then translated that back into English and it was almost identical to what I put in at first!
Layout-wise, I'm indifferent. It's still cleaner than yahoo.com.

Yeah it sucks **** for Korean though.
-m

[Androgeos Exeunt]

The wikipedia search box moving to the top of the page reminds me of microsoft changing the start menu picture in vista and people claimed they didn't know where the start menu was.

This reminds me of Google shifting the volume control in the YouTube player from the right side to the left side.

[Scourge of Ages]

If possible, try translating to Japanese and back.

I wasn't going to, but then I found something intriguing.
Compare this post: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=10761.0
To this one I made just now: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=69478.0

Eight years make quite a difference. EDIT: Ok, technically, I used google this time versus babelfish originally, but they're probably similar enough. Formatting took a bit of a hit though...

[CP5670]

I didn't mind the original issue discussed here that much, but the new changes they made this morning are much worse. The background image adds unnecessary clutter and I especially hate that fade-in effect. There doesn't seem to be any simple way to disable it. Google is looking like Bing now.

[Ransom]

It'll be gone tomorrow.

[perihelion]

It had better be.

[Snail]

I didn't mind the original issue discussed here that much, but the new changes they made this morning are much worse. The background image adds unnecessary clutter and I especially hate that fade-in effect. There doesn't seem to be any simple way to disable it. Google is looking like Bing now.

My thoughts exactly.

[Solatar]

The image seems to have just been a "look, this is what you can do!" thing.  It's gone away for me.

[Titan]

what image?

[Mika]

Define "better."  I find needless changes to a user-interface to be hideous at best, and detrimental to the purpose of the program at worst.

Case-in-point: Micro$oft Office's UI change.  If you've ever used the previous version, the "new one" makes you want to gouge out your eyes with a makeshift shank.  

I've heard that it's more efficient, but failed to see any hard evidence.

Personally, I fail to see how removing words (e.g., 'edit', 'file', 'format') that describe the action you want to occur is more efficient, under normal circumstances. [/inane rabbling]

I agree on the words describing the action. A lot more faster to decipher than an image or icon. I confess I like the new things they have put in Paint in Windows 7 and there the ribbon UI almost works so that I almost don't dislike it, but I would still prefer "File" instead of a small icon. I suspect this is because the number of buttons is small enough that there are no mode switches in the UI and all things can be seen at the same time. I haven't touched the new Excels or Words even with a long stick however. Should the user support forcefully upgrade my Office at work, I'll bite the long loading time bullet and switch to Open Office. I also found a way to get Windows 7 to look like Classic XP; a small modification which has already saved my nerves a number of times.

Quote from Solatar

Seems like they're trying to emulate Bing a bit; which I don't think they need to do.

As others have said, I pretty much have tunnel vision on websites since that's normally where ads are placed.

I have noted the Google UI change, but I don't feel such great resentment towards it. There was simply no need for that in my opinion, but I can do with it. I normally prefer 4:3 monitors, but you brought up an interesting point: Now that there is screen estate available, what do web pages do with it? Push in adds! The result is you actually have a useful screen ratio approaching back the old 4:3, but less vertical space!

[Goober5000]

I didn't mind the original issue discussed here that much, but the new changes they made this morning are much worse. The background image adds unnecessary clutter and I especially hate that fade-in effect. There doesn't seem to be any simple way to disable it. Google is looking like Bing now.

Agreed.  Fortunately, they cancelled the change early due to user complaints.

Which begs the question of why they didn't make the sidebar optional due to user complaints.  One article made a very interesting speculation -- Google won't budge on features that are "crucial to its bottom line".  Which sort of violates its own "don't be evil" slogan.

A better way to roll out the background feature would have been to add a prominent "change back to white" button, just like Meebo, on the days that they show full-background ads, add a prominent "change back to blue" button.

(For the record, I don't believe the VP's explanation that "a bug" prevented the button from being shown. )

[Androgeos Exeunt]

The one thing about Google that you have to note is that they tend to be deaf towards suggestions made by the community.

[Ransom]

Agreed.  Fortunately, they cancelled the change early due to user complaints.

Really? I got the impression it was always intended to be a one-day thing to make people aware of the feature.

[Mikes]

Google has a sidebar now? LOL....

I use google a lot for finding research papers and articles...   but the new layout doesn't bother me...   since i hadn't even noticed that there was a sidebar before reading this post (LOL).

/shrugs. To me Google still works as it always did: Punch in your query and browse the results. It's not like there is a lack of space to display the full width of entries either.

[Snail]

Why would I want line drawings of My Lai, anyway?

[Spoon]

I for one like being able to but my own custom background image for google

[Goober5000]

Really? I got the impression it was always intended to be a one-day thing to make people aware of the feature.

They planned for it to be 24 hours, but cancelled it after 14.

[Liberator]

Let's have a techie thread like Gen. Disc. used to have all the time.

Does anyone else despise the new Google search results layout, with the sidebar on the left?  One of the things I've always liked about Google is their minimalist philosophy; you can "get in, do your job, and get out" without wading through bells and whistles.  The new sidebar is a giant step away from that.  It looks almost identical to Bing, and it splats a whole bunch of unnecessary configuration right where your eyes expect your search results to be.

Judging from the extensive complaint threads I've found, I'm far from the only user to be pissed off at this move.  But it remains to be seen whether they'll add an option to switch it back.

Wait...Google has a toolbar on their main page?  I use Firefox start and it doesn't.  Neither does my iGoogle page with a spiffy time sensitive WoW theme.

And I just looked at the regular Google page and don't see a toolbar other than the one that fades in at the top if you mouse away from the search field.